A collection of top water news from around California and the West compiled each weekday. Send any comments or article submissions to Foundation News & Publications Director Vik Jolly.
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The headlines below are the original headlines used in the publication cited at the time they are posted here and do not reflect the stance of the Water Education Foundation, an impartial nonprofit that remains neutral.
The top-line findings of a massive analysis of the growth rate
of more than 20,000 tropical trees in over 30 countries may at
first seem reassuring: that droughts over the past century have
had a minimal effect on their growth. Because tropical forests
play a crucial role in naturally sequestering carbon dioxide
(CO2) from the atmosphere—combatting global warming—the trees’
resilience should be a relief. However, the study, published on
July 31 in the journal Science, also raises concerns that this
resilience is highly likely to wane as the planet continues to
warm and the frequency of droughts increase. As announced by
the United Nations last year, the global effort to reach the
“net zero” target for carbon emissions by 2050 will not succeed
at the current rate of progress—resulting in more frequent and
severe extreme weather events.
San Francisco just quietly notched one of the wettest Julys in
the city’s history, according to National Weather Service data
going all the way back to the 1870s. Dylan Flynn, a
meteorologist for the agency’s Bay Area office, confirmed the
statistic to SFGATE on Thursday afternoon, explaining that
lingering drizzle from the marine layer squeezed out one more
hundredth of an inch of precipitation on Sunday. That puts July
2025 in a four-way tie for the city’s eighth-wettest July, with
eight hundredths of an inch of accumulated
precipitation. The weather service’s downtown San
Francisco weather station, one of the oldest climate sites in
the country, previously tracked the same amount of
precipitation in July of 1906, 2011 and 2014.
Where does the evapotranspiration that rises from forests and
grasslands come back down as rain? This was the question that
Ruud van der Ent asked as a hydrology graduate student. He
wondered if he could make a map of the world that would show
this flow of moisture around the world. Van der Ent worked with
his professor, the renowned Hubert Savenije to make this map.
They published this in a paper called “Origin and fate of
atmospheric moisture over continents”. … This is the map
they made. It shows where evaporation that goes up, will become
rain again on the same continent. … I was really happy
when I managed to track down Professor Ruud van der Ent, and he
agreed to do this interview. Below is an edited excerpt
from the interview.
Crescent City — one of California’s northernmost towns and Del
Norte County’s lone city — took a close-to-$1 million hit to
its harbor after tsunami waves battered the North Coast earlier
this week. Harbormaster Mike Rademaker told SFGATE in a
call that initial estimates put the damage from rough seas
triggered by the 8.8-magnitude quake off Russia’s coast at
$100,000. Now, Rademaker said, “It’s probably getting closer to
$1 million.” … [Crescent City] recorded the highest tsunami
waves in the continental U.S. — up to 4 feet — with powerful
surges arriving just before dawn, lifting docks off their
pilings and slamming the harbor.
While the Bureau of Reclamation in on the right track as it
weighs how to split flows from the drought-stricken Colorado
River, any new agreement must include “clear, binding
commitments” by all states to reduce or conserve water,
California’s lead negotiator said. For nearly two years,
officials with the seven Colorado River states — Arizona,
California and Nevada in the Lower Basin; and Colorado, New
Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in the Upper Basin — have been in
negotiations over a new long-term operating agreement for the
drought-stricken waterway. They face a November deadline from
the Bureau of Reclamation to strike a deal. States
negotiators revealed in June that they have begun to coalesce
around a deal based on “natural flow” — or estimates of how
much water would be in the river without human-interventions
like diversions or dams.
Adult winter-run Chinook salmon have been spotted in northern
California’s McCloud River for the first time in nearly a
century, according to the California department of fish and
wildlife (CDFW). The salmon were confirmed to be seen near Ash
Camp, tucked deep in the mountains of northern California where
Hawkins creek flows into the McCloud River. A video posted by
CDFW and taken by the Pacific states marine fisheries
commission shows a female Chinook salmon guarding her nest of
eggs on the river floor. … The Winnemem Wintu Tribe has
long fought the enlargement of the Shasta dam, which has
hindered salmon hatching by warming water temperatures above
the chilly range that salmon prefer to lay their eggs in.
A plan that would have stopped the flow of essential forecast
data from a trio of aging military satellites during the middle
of hurricane season has been nixed after widespread pushback.
Statements from the U.S. Navy and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration confirmed on July 29 that data flow
from microwave sounders on the trio of Department of Defense
Satellites would continue until sometime next year as
originally planned, backtracking from earlier announcements in
May and June. The sounders track rain and winds over
the oceans and ice. … Losing half the
microwave data available to forecasters decreases the ability
to identify the most dangerous storms, the ones that intensify
quickly and catch forecasters and the public off guard.
…[University of California, Merced] found that covering
all 4,000 miles of California’s canals could save enough water
for 2 million people through reduced evaporation — and generate
power for 2 million homes annually. The results caught the
state’s attention and helped launch Project Nexus, a $20
million pilot funded by California. Turlock Irrigation District
was chosen for the project in part because it manages 250 miles
of open canals and is also the local energy provider.
… Their narrow-span canal has been online since March,
providing renewable energy to their customers while the
wide-span canal — more than 100 feet across — is under
construction and expected to go live later this year.
Only a handful of seats are left on the bus for our
first-ever and only Klamath River Tour and
spots are now available first come, first served! This
special water tour, Sept. 8 through Sept. 12, will not be
offered again, so grab a ticket here
while they last. The tour will begin Monday
evening (Sept. 8) near Klamath Falls, Ore., with an opening
dinner and presentations to provide important context and
background information on the history, hydrology and management
of the Klamath River watershed. Speakers throughout the
tour will talk about the important role that the remote
watershed straddling California and Oregon plays for farmers,
tribes and salmon. Get
more details.
Failing to place one of five U.S. Department of Agriculture
hubs in California is as ludicrous as thinking you can grow
bananas on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. That is exactly
what Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is doing with her
reorganization plans to decentralize the Washington, D.C.-based
department whose portfolio includes farming, forestry,
nutrition and food safety. Rollins announced the revamping of
the 100,000-employee department by pushing the majority of the
workforce into hubs in Utah, Colorado, North Carolina, Indiana
and Missouri. … Overlooking the country’s top
ag-producing state for a hub is a mistake. No other state comes
close to California’s $59.46 billion in cash receipts for all
commodities.
At the Skinner Fish Facility near Byron, water for 27 million
Californians and hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland
passes through. … Early this year, golden mussels began
clogging the system. … Pam Marrone, cofounder of the Invasive
Species Corporation, has studied invasive species extensively.
Earlier this year, she was inducted into the National Inventors
Hall of Fame. … Already, she’s created a product that kills
Quagga and Zebra mussels. Zequanox is being used across the
country. In the last few months, her team has been
experimenting with Zequanox and found it can kill golden
mussels, but not at as high a rate as they would like.
… She said golden mussels are much tougher to kill than
Quagga and Zebra mussels.
Major decisions are underway that could reshape how water flows
through Mendocino County for decades to come. At its July 18
meeting, the Mendocino County Inland Power and Water Commission
(IWPC) tackled a range of issues tied to the future of the
Potter Valley Project — from signing a key Water Diversion
Agreement to updates on state funding, dam removal timelines,
and groundwater studies. … During open session, attorney
Scott Shapiro provided an update on the project in preparation
for the Eel Russian Project Authority (ERPA)’s upcoming July 21
meeting. … In February, the State of California pledged $18
million for the project — with $9 million designated for
designing NERF and the remaining $9 million allocated to the
Eel River Restoration Fund.
Scientists and civil society are urging delegates from more
than 170 countries represented at a summit here [Zimbabwe] to
step up ambitions to combat the continued destruction of
Earth’s fastest-disappearing ecosystem. Wetlands underpin
all life on Earth, supplying fresh water, oxygen, habitat and
food. Yet since 1970 more than 35 percent of wetlands have been
lost or degraded at a pace three times faster than losses
experienced within forests. The U.N. gathering known as
the 15th meeting of the conference of the Contracting Parties
of the Convention on Wetlands (COP15), one of the oldest global
environmental protection treaties, comes just weeks after
scientists released a dire warning about the destruction and
declining health of global wetlands, describing the decline as
an overlooked crisis that threatens food and water security,
and worsens climate change.
As the number of data centers continues to rise across Arizona,
concerns are growing about how the state will meet the
increasing demand for power and water and who will ultimately
pay for it. A new report from Western Resource
Advocates warns that electricity demand in the Southwest
could grow significantly over the next decade. … In
addition to electricity, data centers use large volumes of
water to cool their servers. That’s drawing concern in a state
where most areas are currently experiencing moderate to
exceptional drought. The report projects that water usage by
data centers in Arizona could grow from 4.5 billion gallons in
2030 to 7 billion gallons annually by 2035 which is enough
water to support nearly 200,000 people per year.
As wildfire conditions across California are expected to
increase steadily through the summer, state officials this
month expressed concerns about cuts in staff and funding at
federal agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service, a division
within the Agriculture Department that partners with the state
to fight wildfires and manage forests. California is home
to 18 national forests, with 48% of its land owned and managed
by the federal government. “On critical priorities like
wildfire, safety and water supplies, federal agency
effectiveness is critical,” California Natural Resources
Secretary Wade Crowfoot said during a webinar in which he and
other state officials discussed potential impacts of federal
staffing reductions to the state’s natural resources, including
forests.
Democrats are digging in their heels following EPA’s proposal
to roll back the scientific finding that underpins federal
rules against planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate-minded Republicans, on the other hand, appear to be
giving President Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt. The
administration moved Tuesday to overturn a 16-year-old
endangerment finding, which says greenhouse gas emissions pose
a threat to human health. Congressional Democrats promised
Tuesday to fight EPA’s actions by encouraging legal challenges
and expanded state climate efforts.
In response to President Donald Trump’s Unleashing American
Energy executive order, multiple governmental agencies have
introduced new rules for implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Eight federal agencies have
introduced policies like faster deadlines, page limits and
removal of public input in order to expedite domestic energy
production. The White House lauds these new policies for
enabling rapid development. However, environmental groups like
Wilderness Workshop (WW) protest the new policies for
undermining the intended purpose of NEPA and putting vital
ecosystems at greater risk of being irreversibly damaged.
… [P]ublic awareness and appreciation for the San Joaquin
River and the assemblage of properties that form the river
parkway have significantly grown. More people are helping to
conserve the parkway than ever before, volunteering with
nonprofits such as the San Joaquin River Parkway and
Conservation Trust, RiverTree Volunteers and Fresno Canoe and
Kayak Club to pick up trash or remove invasive Parrot’s feather
from the river. … Another significant development: The
San Joaquin River Conservancy, the locally controlled state
agency created to develop the parkway, finally has the funding
and staff to start acting like an actual state agency.
… The point here is that in many measurable, tangible
metrics, the San Joaquin River Parkway is in a much better
place. –Written by Fresno Bee columnist Marek Warszawski.
… Cadiz recently alleged that its efforts to access and pump
out groundwater are not subject to review by California’s State
Lands Commission. But in June, incoming Senate President
Monique Limón and Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, both of whom
chair the California Legislature’s committees on natural
resources, quashed that evasion. … The lawmakers
highlighted the strict and detailed scrutiny facing the company
under state law. … Gov. Newsom championed that law. This
week is the sixth anniversary of SB 307, which he signed on
July 31, 2019. In his signing statement, the Governor stated
the fact that “water has flowed underneath the Mojave for
thousands of years,” feeding a “fragile ecosystem.”
A continually warming world could alter the way ocean currents
regulate huge swaths of the Earth’s climate, making even rainy
places like Central America, the Amazon and Indonesia,
susceptible to drought. Researchers, in a study published
Wednesday in the journal Nature, studied how ancient rainfall
patterns interacted with the Atlantic Meridional Overturning
Circulation, a massive system of ocean currents that moves
water through the Atlantic Ocean and what that could mean for
the future of Earth’s climate. By moving warm water from
the tropics to the North Atlantic, the AMOC plays an important
part in regulating the climate by both locking in place the
tropical rain belt at the equator and redistributing heat from
the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere.
